Operation sub 6 hour 6-inch numero III

***Update Wednesday 12/12/07;*** Still no training but did a tough route on Greenmount Hill today for work, which I am pretty sure gave the calves some "hill-training", plus some time on Everest street in Alexander Heights on that 10 hour day I did last week, so hoping my work as a meter reader will help my 6-inch time to dip under 6 hours...(along with the 26k recon run 6 weeks ago, and the JG 10k track + 22k 2 weeks back, (and of course Melbourne Marathon 10 weeks ago)will be enough running for me to last the majority of the 45k at a decent pace... Ominous weather forecast today of 23 degrees and thundery showers for this sunday, although won't be surprised if that changes in the next few days, has already changed this week...***update ends here***

Well its been a hard weekend with working overtime again on Saturday and then getting a tooth extraction saturday night, followed by the usual collection of painkillers,antibiotics, my body rejecting the antibiotics as usual,(diahorrea this time, after hives last time, so thats two sets of antibiotics I don't like now) followed by panadol and copious rinses with salt-water, brushing, waiting for blood clot on gum to form, young Jacob being a handful, struggling to start eating again on one side of the mouth, and getting through a tough day at work in warm 32 degree heat, and thunderstorms hovering, making for tropical weather, its like Singapore weather almost...Last night after I had a shower/half a shave sorted out my mouth(saltwater rinses), and my lovely wife Kathryn made some pasta with silver beet cuts (I love silver beet!, high in iron too which is good cos I am vegetarian.), plus been drinking lots of sustagen (I bought a tin of Sustagen Mocha recently to go with the Sustagen sport I have, although I think Sustagen vanilla is my favourite these days, the best ever was when they used to make the honey/nut Sustagen back in the 90's, although that was only in tetra-pak), but I digress after all that I was asleep by 11pm which is a bit on the early side for me, and as a result I woke up a tad early this morning at 0430 (good practice for the very early start for 6-inch this weekend), even beating young Jacobs early morning wake-up for feed...As for training at the moment I am in "Whats training? mode", i.e. haven't had a chance to do any...

plus the mental dilemma of Am I going to run 6-inch?...every couple of hours I change my mind as to whether I am going to run it this year, but I think my mental consensus is that I am going to run it, I still feel like I may have a sub 6 hour effort in me this year, and I'd like to knock off Operation sub 6 hour 6-inch so I can get that mental monkey off my back, and steam towards a possible 6-foot attempt in the next few years. Every time I hear that Shannon Noll song: Lift (some good memories attached there for Kathryn and I)or something else inspiring like Demon Hunter: Coffin Builder for example, I think yeah I want this, and just like Melbourne Marathon this year which was a bit of a mad scramble to get to the start line intact, its the same again for 6-inch 2007 for me. It would be easy to say hey tooth extraction, lack of money,car wearing out, wife and 5 month old baby to care for, plus work the next day, time to take a break from weekend warrior heroics after running two marathons this year already,and what Kathryn and Jacob are going to do on the day, cancelling a photo-shoot, postponing our dedication of Jacob at church cos they clashed with 6-inch...so plenty of reasons not to run it this year...and a few more I can think of too...

Buttttt, I know I want to take on 6-inch again this year, and I will be disappointed in myself if I don't show up, plus the lure of the beautiful scenery to run in the challenge of taking on the tough terrain again this year, the curiousity of seeing how much the bushfires have affected the course, the adventure of cranking it out up Goldmine Hill with a few other "hard nuts"/crazy obsessive compulsive marathoners like me, and just catching up with various people, the social aspect, plus the intrigue of seeing how others go, and who else has the guts to show up. Also if any other hardy souls make the trek to watch us runners in the beautiful bush forest, Ive heard a whisper that 1 or 2 RWCWA people might show up as cheerleaders, and give us all a cheer, now that would be worth a photo... Its the 6-inch experience! Its unique in Western Australian running and I want to be a part of it again in 2007, after promoting it all year long...See
WAMC messageboard 6-inch thread AND Jons 6-inch FAQ page, and 6 inch thread on Cool Running...

....so now that I have psyched myself up a bit, despite my "who knows where I am at physically" status,...and me oscillating mentally from 5% chance of running to 50/50, I am pretty sure I will I be there, I hope so, I will be very annoyed and disappointed if not, Its one of those thingsa runner has to do, you'd only understand if you are a runner, which most of the people who read this are, so I am preaching to the converted.....so to borrow a stevenP-ism; Bring it on...just bring it on 6-inch!